Abstract
There were 14.1 million new cancer cases, 8.2 million cancer deaths, and 32.6 million people living with cancer (within 5 year of diagnosis) in 2012 worldwide [1]. From 1954 through December 2014, a total of 137,179 patients across the world have been treated with all forms of particle therapy since it was first started in Berkeley in 1954 [2]. As on date, particle radiotherapy treatment constitutes about 1 % of the total number of patients receiving radiotherapy worldwide. These numbers justify the title of the book “Particle Radiotherapy: An emerging technology for treatment of cancer.” In the recent past, there is a significant interest by all stakeholders in this decade’s old technology and the chance that it will emerge as a technology of choice as a prime modality of cancer treatment is very high. The book is an attempt to have a closer look on what are the physical factors that make particles the choice of radiotherapy as well as the clinical evidence that are slowly pouring in from the exponentially growing number of particle therapy centers worldwide treating cancer patients.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray, F. GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.0, cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11 [Internet]. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2013. From: http://globocan.iarc.fr.
Jermann M. Particle therapy statistics in 2014. Int J Particle Ther. 2015;2(1):50–4.
Mould RF. A century of X-rays and radioactivity in medicine: with emphasis on photographic records of the early years. 1993, IOP Publication, London, UK.
Wilson RR. Radiological use of fast protons. Radiology. 1946;47:487–91.
Raju MR. Pions and heavy ions in radiotherapy. Presented at the Xlth international cancer congress, Florence; 20–26 Oct 1974. Excerpta medica international congress series, vol 353. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy of cancer, vol 5. pp. 161–7.
Koehler AM, Preston WM. Protons in radiation therapy. Radiology. 1972;104:191–5.
Archambeau J, Bennett GW, Levine GS, Cowen R, Akanuma A. Proton radiation therapy. Radiology. 1974;110:445–57.
Raju MR. Heavy Particle Radiotherapy. Academic Press; 1980.
Suit H, Wette R. Radiation dose fractionation and tumor control probability. Radiat Res. 1966;29:267–81.
Zietman AL, Bae K, Slater JD, Shipley WU, Efstathiou JA, et al. Randomized trial comparing conventional-dose with high-dose conformal radiation therapy in early-stage adenocarcinoma of the prostate: long-term results from Proton Radiation Oncology Group/American College of Radiology 95–09. J Clin Oncol. 2010;28(7):1106–11.
Miyamato T, Yamamoto N, Nishimura H, et al. Carbon ion radiotherapy for stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Radiother Oncol. 2003;66:127–40.
Raju MR. Particle radiotherapy: historical developments and current status. Radiat Res. 1996;145(4):391–407.
Wedenberg M, Toma-Dasu I. Disregarding RBE variation in treatment plan comparison may lead to bias in favor of proton plans. Med Phys. 2014;41:091706.
Tommasino T, Durante M. Proton radiobiology. Cancers. 2015;7:353–81.
van de Water TA, Lomax AJ, Bijl HP, de Jong ME, Schilstra C, et al. Potential benefits of scanned intensity-modulated proton therapy versus advanced photon therapy with regard to sparing of the salivary glands in oropharyngeal cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2011;79(4):1216–24.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer India
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rath, A.K. (2016). Particle Radiotherapy: An Introduction. In: Rath, A., Sahoo, N. (eds) Particle Radiotherapy. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2622-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2622-2_1
Publisher Name: Springer, New Delhi
Print ISBN: 978-81-322-2621-5
Online ISBN: 978-81-322-2622-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)